Satanism Today - An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore and Popular ...

244 Satanic Ritual Abuse
Rivera’s guests on this important program had
listed numerous potential “doorways” to demon
possession and Satanism, such as fortune tellers,
horoscopes, fraternity oaths, vegetarianism, yoga,
self-hypnosis, acupuncture, biofeedback, fantasy
role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons,
adultery, homosexuality, judo, and karate. Rock
music is described as “a carefully masterminded
plan by none other than Satan himself.” Rivera was
careful to confine his questions to this particular
“Satanism expert” so as not to elicit comments on
these surrealistic aspects of the Satanic threat.
Eventually a handful of states (California,
Idaho, and Illinois) were prompted to actually
pass laws that addressed Satanic ritual abuse—
though the word satanic was often left out of the
rubric so that the laws did not sound like hangovers
from the Middle Ages. These laws were
composed and passed at the height of the ritual
abuse panic in the early 1990s. Because such laws
appear to officially recognize the real existence of
SRA, they represent a victory for people and
organizations promoting the myth of ritual abuse.
One of the key documents leading to the
demise of SRA as a topic of criminal investigation
was an influential 1992 FBI report, Kenneth V.
Lanning’s “Investigator’s Guide to Allegations of
‘Ritual’ Child Abuse” (see Appendix 2). This
report, which dismisses the reality of SRA, has
been described as the most influential document
on the subject ever written. The early 1990s also
saw the publication of a series of important books
that added yet more weight to the debunking of
the ritual abuse myth. These books include Robert
D. Hicks, In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the
Occult (1991), James T. Richardson, Joel Best and
David G. Bromley’s The Satanism Scare (1991),
and Jeffrey Victor’s Satanic Panic: The Creation of
a Contemporary Legend (1993).
The more important specific cases that arose
out of the SRA scare are described in separate
entries throughout the present encyclopedia.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that ritual abuse
has been thoroughly debunked, a number of
people convicted during the height of the Satanic
panic continue to languish in prison.
See also Crime; Film; Ingram Ritual Abuse Case;
Rivera, Geraldo; McMartin Ritual Abuse Case;
United Kingdom, Ritual Abuse in
For Further Reading:
Brown, Rebecca. He Came to Set the Captives Free.
Chino, CA: Chick Publications, 1986.
———. Prepare for War. Chino, CA: Chick
Publications, 1987.
Carlson, Shawn, et al. Satanism in America: How the
Devil Got Much More Than His Due. El Cerrito,
CA: Gaia Press, 1989.
Hertenstein, M., and J. Trott. Selling Satan, The
Tragic History of Mike Warnke. Chicago:
Cornerstone Press, 1993.
Hicks, Robert. In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and
the Occult. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books,
1991.
Katchen, Martin H. “The History of Satanic
Religions.” In Savid K. Sakheim and Susan E.
Devine. Out of Darkness. New York: Lexington
Books, 1992.
Kramer, Heinrich, and James Sprenger. Malleus
Maleficarum. 1486. Transl. Montague Summers.
New York: Benjamin Blom, 1970.
Nathan, Debbie, and Michael Snedeker. Satan’s
Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a
Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic
Books, 1995.
Papworth, Mark. “Excerpts from an Interview with
Forensic Archeologist, and Faculty at the
Evergreen State College, Dr. Mark Papworth.”
January 3, 1996. Available at
http://members.aol.com/IngramOrg/papworth.
htm.
Passantino, Bob, and Gretchen Passantino. “Satanic
Ritual Abuse in Popular Christian Literature,
Why Christians Fall for a Lie Searching for the
Truth.” Journal of Psychology and Theology 20,
no. 3 (1992a).
———. “The Hard Facts about Satanic Ritual
Abuse.” Christian Research Journal (Winter
1992b).
Richardson, James, Joel Best, and David G. Bromley.
The Satanism Scare. New York: Aldine de
Gruyter, 1991.
Robinson, Bruce A. “Satanic Ritual Abuse.” In James
R. Lewis. The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects and
New Religions. Second edition. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books, 2001.
Ross, Colin. Satanic Ritual Abuse: Principles of
Treatment. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1995.
Smith, Michelle, and Lawrence Pazder. Michelle
Remembers. New York: Congdon and Lattes,
1980. Reissued New York: Pocket Books, 1981.
Stratford, Lauren, and Johanna Michaelson. Satan’s
Underground: The Extraordinary Story of One
Woman’s Escape. 1988. Reissued New York:
Pelical Publications, 1991.